Despite their regular use of prenatal multivitamins containing vitamin D,
the
majority of 400 pregnant women studied recently had a significant
Vitamin D deficiency. This of course translated into a deficiency
for their newborns as well, since a newborn's vitamin D stores are
completely reliant upon the mother's. A deficiency in vitamin D
in early life is associated with rickets, long thought eradicated in
developed nations, as well as increased risk for type 1 diabetes,
asthma and schizophrenia. In the study, more than 80 percent of
African-American women and nearly half of white
women tested at delivery had levels of vitamin D that were too
low. Levels were particularly low during the winter and were
highest in the summer, though the levels in the African-American women
tested were more consistent. Since vitamin D is produced in
reaction to sunlight exposure, it has long been known that vitamin D
deficiency is more common among darker-skinned people, particularly in
more northern latitudes.
So
what can you do? Apparently consumption of prenatal vitamins
didn't have much significance in vitamin D levels (though they are
thought to prevent nasties in your baby like cancer
so you should probably still choke 'em down if you can), but sunlight
exposure is absolutely known to work to increase vitamin D levels
(though less so the darker your skin, a bummer but true).
Also? Fatty fish contains vitamin D, so in addition to making your baby smarter,
choke down some fish on a regular basis to increase your levels. Other
dietary sources include eggs and fortified foods such as milk and some
ready-to-eat cereals and vitamin supplements.
So
maybe having a nice bowl of Lucky Charms while sitting out in the sun
will do the trick. And I'm thinking that this news would be all I
needed to justify a nice beach vacation.
